Young Youth Update for September 2017

I am thrilled to be the Young Youth Director at First Lutheran Church! As I am thinking about the first part of my position I think about how busy everyone is at this time of year, school starting and transitions into a new routine. I had the opportunity to meet Lyle Griner who wrote the following… and are my thoughts exactly! 

My kids are already overly busy! Why do they need one more thing at church? Psychology says our self-worth is woven from a sense of uniqueness, belonging, hope, and purpose. God wraps these into our baptismal promise. We are each uniquely gifted. We are set into a body of people called the church. Our hope is in a God and life that is never ending. Our purpose is our calling.

Here is what we offer your young youth…

• Belonging – Living life and faith can only be learned by rubbing shoulders with those who model and mentor it. We work constantly to create a caring, welcoming and affirming culture of relationships with faithful individuals.
• Hope – Your son or daughter will find an assurance of hope that will make sense of this world! Everything, everything, everything ends except the hope, faith, love, and grace the church embodies.  Our young youth ministry is a spiritual place. We talk about the good and the bad of life. We enter into faith practices that help us be aware of God in our midst.
• Uniqueness – Your son or daughter will discover and use their gifts, as well as the reasons God created him or her! He or she will often hear the words, “We need you!” We believe God created each of us with a unique design, a set of gifts, skills and abilities. We all need to be needed. We work hard to plug in your son’s or daughter’s uniqueness throughout our church.
• Purpose – Your son or daughter will discover a practice and attitude of being a servant leader! We don’t just talk about ministry; we do it. Throughout the year, we participate in a number of service opportunities that are about making life better for others. We also emphasize that youth are doing ministry every day, everywhere, and in every relationship because they are with people all day long. We give our youth people skills and values that help them to love others because Christ first loved us.

Those are four big, crucial reasons.

I am looking forward to an exciting new year of Young Youth Ministry, and I hope you and the Young Youth are, too.

As always, if you have any questions or ideas, please contact me!

Gratefully, Beth